#42

Awesome, I hope you enjoy it! The loudness comes from having gain in the system, so that if you want you can use quieter sources, even external synths, and still be able to have enough level.

3 Likes
#43

Received my SoundStage this afternoon. It feels like an amped up 3 Sisters spectral mixing, which is what I expected. Figuring out what to patch where seems to be a bit trickier though!

Edit to tack this on, since there aren’t so many example in the wild:

Here is a pretty dense patch. 3 voices (BIA, Chord v2, and Braids) and 4 drum voices from Blck_Noir. Additionally Z-DSP Halls of Valhalla is also patched into it (Plagwitz acting as the effects send.)

When I first patched it up previously, I was trying to get my voices to sit nicely in single lanes and everything felt a bit too filtered to my current taste, so I tried cross patching across two bands for each voice with stack cables, and that gave me this result. Each voice sits in two bands across the stereo field, stereo reverb out as well. Each band has two patches except for the lowest row, which has all 3 points patched - the BD is pulled out from the BN mix out and sits in the bottom center as recommended.

5 Likes
#44

I have a feeling the soundstage might be exactly what I’ve been looking for, my current 7u (made space for soundstage) : https://cdn.modulargrid.net/img/racks/modulargrid_946729.jpg

I love layering evolving/warping drones and using chaotic inputs to drive gritty/delayed drum/tempo variations over top, sometimes with a simple melody coming in on top of all that. Since I have limited space I was previously using 2 intellijel mixups for all my mixing. Really difficult to dial them in and not have things sound muddy (and the separation of instruments is still pretty muddy)…

Is the soundstage my panacea??

#45

DivKid just released his full demo:

Panaceas are few and far between. But Soundstage looks like a remarkably clever approach that might suit many smaller systems as a master mixer, or some larger systems as an interesting submixer.

I kind of wish I could get a module that does the filtering without the mixing and panning. The Bastl Propust is something like that.

4 Likes
#46

Interesting, Propust looks like a good option. In my case, the chronoblob & clouds already do stereo effects, and I use cold mac for panning my drones typically. I guess I love the simplicity of this and thinkng about possible interactions between it and cold mac for animation.

#47

I’ve had my SoundStage for a short spell now, and I like it. Comparing it to Propust isn’t wrong but kind of misses the point – not to say there is no overlap. It’s more than just a filtered mix, it makes you consider where your sounds sit in the mixing in a more dynamic way. You can also dial in exactly how filtered you want the effect to be, which is nice.

It is a different paradigm in mixing consideration in perhaps a similar fashion to Make Noise’s interest in decentralized mixing? It offers a different way of thinking about it in a nice compact package.

I will add that the stereo can be more complex than traditional patching as well. You can patch a sound into as many levels and panning orientations as you want. You can certainly think of it as “one voice to one patch point”, but I’ve enjoyed making sounds occupy different bands and panning positions. You could probably build a similar kind of thing with a bunch of Nearnesses and Proupsts, but I don’t think it would sound as nice as it wasn’t tuned to the purpose as SoundStage has been.

Which is to say: if you’re finding your work muddy, it should help. If you like the idea of what it does, it does what is says on the tin. It is also not the only way to accomplish this, but does so nicely in a very small foot print.

4 Likes
#48

I just received my Soundstage. Great mixer.
One thing I wonder is if the Level-VCA is suppose to close completely when fully ccw?
Mine don’t.
Is this the way it is suppose to work or is my module broken?
:thinking:

#49

@worng, care to chime in?

#50

Hi Klas, I replied to your email with a few questions to help get to the bottom of the issue, hopefully we can sort it out soon.

For those playing along at home, the output level control should reduce the level to the point where you would consider it silent when turned fully CCW.

1 Like
#51

If you’re just looking for static filters the Propust could be an option, but they’re just passive RC filters so they’d lack the resonance that gives the SoundStage the boost near the cutoff frequency that really helps with definition and character. The difference in sound between a resonant Sallen-Key filter and a passive RC one is quite significant.

4 Likes
#52

Thanks @worng for quick reply
:grinning:

2 Likes
#53

Does anyone here have Vector Space? Can you speak to how you like to use it?

#54

I have one, and I’ve mostly been using it for modulation, feeding it offset lfos and then taking the various outputs to modulate vcas, filter, parameters on magneto, this/that on W/. It’s pretty great and we could meet up if you want to check it out.

3 Likes
#55

,Vector Space has been my go-to for relatively gentle animation for some time. I usually feed it a clocked LFO, an unclocked LFO and a clocked random and then just patch from Vector Space to anywhere that I’d like some movement. As pretty as the module is, I’d rather it was super dense and compact, because in the end, the spatial arrangement if jacks isn’t that useful. I see it as eight widely fluctuating outs, four medium fluctuators, and three that change only modestly.

6 Likes
#56

Update re: Soundstage, I picked one up several weeks ago and have been loving it. With the filtering 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up. It really adds a lot to the final mix. Been mostly running my voices through various stereo effects (chronoblob, clouds), then into soundstage, someetimes splitting the outs to place them in various locations on the stage then into qpas to feedback into soundstage, gettiing some really dense, colorful results that don’t get muddy. Took my IJ mixup’s out for it and no regrets.

5 Likes
#57

Long, slow, boring day at work, so I made a mockup of a “μVS” for you.

uVS

14 Likes
#58

Placed a pre-order and have been checking every day to see when the second batch will be ready. I can’t wait for soundstage!

#59

I’d pre-order that. :100:

#60

I have most of their modules. Absolutely love the Vector Space - use it in almost every patch. Generally feed it a clocked random source (from say marbles), a sloth (medium) and then something else - standard LFO or similar. Then take the outs to anything I can think of. It’ll never leave my case!

Soundstage is really great. Modulating it (with Vector Space) is cool.

#61

I’m planning an “automated” mixer using levels provided by a pressure points+analogue memory, into an SSF muton into soundstage. It would probably cost more than a real life mixer and without sends, but I’d have 4 presets of volume levels, mutes and the spectral mixing!

1 Like